Scientists rekindle beef bloodline

The sale this fall of a $25 thousand bull to a Texas ranch is more than just bragging rights for the Clemson Extension Service. It’s a step to rebuild a herd of Herefords that once provided a research and teaching platform for improving cattle genetics on South Carolina farms. The bull on its way to the Lone Star state is part of a line of Herefords with long Clemson ties. Animal scientist Brian Bolt traces the bull’s lineage to the Trask cattle that started in South Carolina. “We’re rebuilding,” Bolt said. In the few years the Herefords have bred at the Simpson Station a few miles from the Clemson campus, the results have been attention-grabbing, according to Clemson.